Six thematic chapters range over subjects like The Outdoors, Capturing The Moment, Representing Things as They Are, Finding New Subjects, Looking Beyond Nature, to conclude with a chapter on the influence of Impressionist painting on the next generation of artists. Barbe-Gall reminds us of how radical this movement was in its day by starting each chapter with a discussion of one piece of Establishment art from the period, showing how fresh and shocking the Impressionists' work seemed in this context.